Bollywood actress Esha Gupta, who claims to be a victim of racism, got called out on social media for her racist comments on Nigerian footballer Alexander Iwobi. The Rustom actress, who is an Arsenal supporter, later issued an apology on Twitter for her remarks.

On Monday, Esha shared a screenshot of a WhatsApp conversation with her friend on her Instagram stories, wherein she criticised Iwobi’s performance. The actress’ friend calls the player “gorilla faced Iwobi” who hasn’t changed from “Neanderthal to man”.

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To that, Esha laughed and replied: “Haha… I don’t know why they don’t bench him more.”

After apparently realising her mistake, Esha immediately took down the image from her profile. Expectedly, this did not go down well with some social media users and the 33-year-old actress was slammed for her “ignorance.”

Could someone also inform @eshagupta2811 ‘s surname share-err that Neanderthals never ‘changed to Man’ because they were a different species and umm ..Not Homo Sapiens ? The fact that she found it funny and worth sharing !#Racist and #Ignorant #EshaGupta #VarunGupta https://t.co/KUAZVpGkoU

— Marmabandha (@Marmabandha) January 28, 2019

.@Arsenal ‘s Indian ambassador, ladies and gents.

Fairly obvious who the unevolved Neanderthal is here. #EshaGupta pic.twitter.com/5qjWIO7Q0a

— Abhishek Sundar (@ctrlaltdela) January 28, 2019

Everything is fine except for playing the Victim Card yet again to get out of an uncomfortable situation. #EshaGupta #Racist #AlexIwobi https://t.co/U6tJHhQkzk

— Rahul Shetty (@rahulshetty9) January 28, 2019

After facing the backlash, Esha took to Twitter to apologise by saying that she did not “realise it was directed towards racism”.

“Guys m sorry you thought it was racist. Was bad on my part, being a sports lover. Wallah never meant it. Sorry guys forgive the stupidity,” she tweeted.

Guys m sorry you thought it was racist. Was bad on my part, being a sports lover. Wallah never meant it. Sorry guys forgive the stupidity 🙏🏽 #gooner4life

— Esha Gupta (@eshagupta2811) January 27, 2019

“It was us discussing our frustration during the game. Sorry as I didn’t realise it was directed towards racism. Laughed over the spur of the moment, which was the game’s result guys. Been a victim of racism myself before. But this is not something I am proud of. It was a fault, sorry guys,” her subsequent tweet read.

It was us discussing our frustration during the game.sorry as I din realise it directed towards racism.laughed over the spur of the moment, which was the games result guys.been victim of racism myself before. But this is not something m proud of. It was a fault,sorry guys

— Esha Gupta (@eshagupta2811) January 27, 2019

Earlier, on 9 October 2017, the actress slammed cosmetic brand Dove for allegedly shaming dark-skinned people in an ad.

“Wow #Dove this is such a smart and innovative ad.m gonna start using dove to become white. #browngirl no shame,” she wrote.

Wow #Dove this is such a smart and innovative ad.m gonna start using dove to become white. #browngirl no shame..👎🏽 pic.twitter.com/1YG94lHPcU

— Esha Gupta (@eshagupta2811) October 9, 2017

In 2017, Esha had also opened up about facing racism in India and said she was often referred to as “Kaali” due to her complexion.